How To Slow Your Eating Habits

One of the things which are commonly noticed among people who tend to put on more weight day by day is their tendency to eat more which is due to the faster rate in which they eat. For all those who tend to finish their meals much faster than anyone else will need some tips to prevent faster eating and inculcating slower eating habits.

These habits of eating at faster rate is usually traced back to the habits which are started in childhood, it is also astonishing to see the amount of food which is usually eaten within span of six to seven minutes. However this is not the only reason to eat food so fast, there are other reasons like the being extremely hungry or even if the food is tasty enough which is said to increase the hunger for more food making people to shovel into the food.

Too much hunger will tempt anyone to get going with unhealthy food which can be prepared faster than also containing higher calories, stomach usually needs 20 minutes or more of time before it can send signals to the brain that it is already full. If there is a delay in these 20 minutes lot of food can be eaten during this time which will not help or fasten the process of sending signals to the brain.

Even small amount of food will give feeling of being full for which it is necessary to lessen the pace at which food is eaten also giving time for the body to figure everything out. Tips to help in slowing down the eating speed are given below which include:

1. Divide food into courses: Instead of filling up the plate with lots of food, it is suggested to divide it into courses which can be started with either salads or veggies which make it the foods that have lower calories among entire meal that has to be followed by main course of meal. If there is only certain time to wind up the meal it is suggested to eat maximum portion of the main course while the rest has to be save for snacks which will ease up the pressure of eating all at once.
2. Take smaller bites: If the bit is larger it will ensure that the food is found to finish at faster rate, instead if the bite is taken in smaller quantities it is said to make the meal last for longer time making sure that this will provide sufficient time for brain to register that the stomach is full.  
3. Include more fiber: There is nothing like higher fiber foods or lower fiber foods irrespective of this fiber food in general are known to take lots of time to eat which therefore directly has effect on the slowing down of digestion process.
4. Swallow the bite before going for another one: People who eat fast often tend to fill up their next bite before gulping down the previous one, all those who are doing this should change it by following the process of chewing and swallowing before loading the next bite.
5. Put down the food between bites: This is one other habit which will help in slowing down the speed at which food is eaten, which goes as follows. Once the habit of swallowing food is addicted to before getting ready for another bite, then it is suggested to inculcate another habit which is to put down the food before going for another bite or even the utensils if the food is eaten in them.
6. Drink water between bites: It is suggested to get used to the idea of going with certain sips of water in between the bites which will slow down the pace at which food is consumed also allowing more water into the body.

Eating slower is surely said to have positive results in weight loss however it also becomes difficult for people to slow down the pace quite like it is done with other weight loss facilities which needs lots of practices. Hence time has to be set aside to have food at leisure instead of fitting it in to about 10 minutes of short time and winding up the food.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.